The neologism "Pectacles: gladiator movies," a runner-up entry by Brad Alexander for Week 907, a contest to move a word’s first letter to the end. ( Bob Staake for The Washington Post )

February 28, 2013

Among the myriad humor genres the Invitational has indulged in, it is probably best known for neologism contests, in which you make up a new term, usually by altering one or more existing words, and give it a zingy definition.

Tom Witte, 55, a civilian employee of the U.S. Corps of Engineers’ Topographic Engineering Center is the Nabob of Neologism. Since he debuted in Week 7, the aptly named Witte has amassed 1,200 blots of Invite ink.

A few neologisms from the past decade that ought to be in your vocabulary:

Bob Staake establishes the zaniness to the unwary of the Invitational. Bob started illustrating the weekly contest example in 1994, and he’s drawn close to 1,000 images.

Caption

Bob Staake establishes the zaniness to the unwary of the Invitational. Bob started illustrating the weekly contest example in 1994, and he’s drawn close to 1,000 images.

“If a hospital ran an English restaurant, the food would improve.” Week 836, an example to kick off the contest to describe what would happen if one given institution ran another. First published Sept. 26, 2009.Bob Staake/For The Washington Post

Be sure to check out the many other segments of this 20th-anniversary Style Invitational retrospective: classic limericks; song parodies; neologisms (new words); horse “breeding” and “joint legislation”; and dozens of other winning entries from the past decade. Plus how to enter this week’s new contest, and a look at the Losers and their remarkable subculture. And more! See the index of articles here.

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Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.